Prep girls tennis: Branson beats Piedmont to repeat as section champs

The Branson School girls tennis team's young guns shot straight and true Saturday at the College of Marin courts.

All Piedmont could do was surrender early as the Bulls swept the first four matches en route to a 6-1 victory in the Division II North Coast Section finals. It was Branson's second section title in as many seasons.

Branson coach Jenno Morson, who has won two NCS D-II titles in as many tries, is now looking for bigger game to hunt. Morson said he will petition for the Bulls (20-2) to move up to D-I starting next season.

"Good job Branson and hopefully you will move up to D-I next year and give everyone else a chance," said Piedmont coach Neil Rothenberg in the postgame ceremony.

Rothenberg has obviously seen enough of Branson, the same team which forced his Highlanders (22-5) to settle for second in the section a year ago.

It seems hard to believe, but Branson's best days are quite possibly ahead of it. Branson's No. 1 and No. 2 singles players are both sophomores.

"I think we have started a legacy at Branson," said sophomore Paige Cline, who mowed down Laaelli Thiel 6-2, 6-0 in the No. 1 singles match. "Because of last year's section title, we had a lot of confidence coming in today. It feels really good to repeat."

Even before Cline, a lefty, put the finishing touches on her convincing victory, the Bulls had already sewed up the section crown.

Megan Schlovinck, Branson's No. 2 singles player and also a sophomore, was first off the court after making short order of Piedmont lefty Samantha Lai, 6-2, 6-0.

"(Lai) hit the ball really hard," said Schlovinck, who led only 2-1 early in the first set. "I made some adjustments and started serving to her backhand. It was working really well."

Schlovinck, who fired three aces to a take command of the first set 4-1, irreversibly turned the tide in her favor when she finished the set with a scorching ace that Lai could only dance out of the way of.

Branson put the section title banner in its hip pocket when sophomore Bianca Capretta joined forces with freshman Emily Modlin for a hard fought 7-5, 7-5 victory over Elizabeth Sweeney and Emily Kelleher in the No. 2 doubles match. Capretta and Modlin came from behind in both sets to secure the section-clinching win.

Capretta, who played No. 3 doubles last season, said there was some concern when she and Modlin fell behind 4-5 in the second set.

"We didn't connect and communicate as well as we should have," Capretta said. "So after we got behind in the second set, we got together and said, 'We're still in this. Now, we've got to fight.' If we lost, we would've had to go to a super tie-breaker, and we didn't want to go there."

Branson's No. 3 doubles team of Alyssa Ivancovich and Mia Broad needed a super tiebreaker to turn back the pesky team of Claire O'Connor and Sydney Williams, 6-4, 6-7, 11-9.

"Last year we came (into the NCS playoffs) as a second seed and that made it a little easier," said Morson, whose assistant coach is Charlie Hoeveler. "Being on top is harder because you 'have' to win."